Composites of aminodextran-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles and graphene oxide for cellular magnetic resonance imaging

Formation of composites of dextran-coated Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) and graphene oxide (Fe(3)O(4)-GO) and their application as T(2)-weighted contrast agent for efficient cellular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are reported. Aminodextran (AMD) was first synthesized by coupling reaction of carboxymethyldextran with butanediamine, which was then chemically conjugated to meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinnic acid-modified Fe(3)O(4) NPs. Next, the AMD-coated Fe(3)O(4) NPs were anchored onto GO sheets via formation of amide bond in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC). It is found that the Fe(3)O(4)-GO composites possess good physiological stability and low cytotoxicity. Prussian Blue staining analysis indicates that the Fe(3)O(4)-GO nanocomposites can be internalized efficiently by HeLa cells, depending on the concentration of the composites incubated with the cells. Furthermore, compared with the isolated Fe(3)O(4) NPs, the Fe(3)O(4)-GO composites show significantly enhanced cellular MRI, being capable of detecting cells at the iron concentration of 5 μg mL(-1) with cell density of 2 × 10(5) cells mL(-1), and at the iron concentration of 20 μg mL(-1) with cell density of 1000 cells mL(-1).